Just to make things more confusing, though, she is also the wife of long-horned beetle. I feel like I am starting to understand her… I think the idea is to lure spring in, with your red and white symbols, to make Grandmother March happy. So sometimes she becomes merry and sweet, but that’s only when the sun shines. Apparently, she’s a very angry old lady with extreme mood swings. She is the only female month and has a bad relationship with her brothers, January and February. Baba Marta, aka Grandmother March, is a mythical figure, who is thought to bring about the end of winter. I’m a bit confused, and by the sounds of it, so is she. Sometimes they come with extras like beads, coins, or dried garlic in a bid to keep evil spirits away. You wouldn’t make them for yourself, rather you’d make them (or buy them) to give to someone else. Baba Marta is the personification of nature in the stage of early spring erratic, unpredictable, easily changing. I don’t know why they’re given these names, but they’re as good as any I guess! The boy doll is usually white and the girl is usually red, unlike the photo above. "How can we go on vacation without having made martenitsas, even if we're a little bit early!" reads the school website.The little guy martenista is called Pizho and the lady is Penda. The children of "Paisius of Hilendar" school in Paris made their martenitsas a week in advance. On Sunday they marked the upcoming National Day of Bulgaria, March 3. Granny Marta hurried to tie martenitsas on the hands of the Bulgarian children in the Sunday school "Saints Cyril & Methodius" in Athens. "This year we are making martenitsas in the hope of peace, good health, spring in hearts and radiant children's smiles," wrote our director Iglika Kassabova. Martenitsa workshop opened on March 1 in the Bulgarian school "Ivan Vazov" in the Croatian capital Zagreb. (1) Embassy of Bulgaria, Ottawa | Facebook The school is a magnet for the Bulgarian diaspora in Montreal. Kliment Ohridski" educates more than 85 students. With the older students they talked about the Bulgarian history and the significance of the date of March 3," we learn from the website of the Bulgarian Embassy in Ottawa.Ī bazaar of handmade martenitsi was also held in the church by representatives of the Bulgarian community in the city. "Bulgarian ambassador to Canada Svetlana Stoycheva-Etropolski visited all seven groups in the school, and held very interesting discussions with the children about the old folk tales and legends about the date of March 1 and Baba Marta. Kliment Ohridski" in Montreal the students were eager to make their own martenitsas - for health and good luck, delving into this centuries-old Bulgarian tradition, and demonstrating their creative talents. The children sang, Baba Marta brought us martenitsas, and children and parents learned to make Pijo and Penda martenitsa," Violetta Gatev from Berlin told us. "We combined the martenitsa workshop with an open rehearsal of the choir. And this is no coincidence, as Bulgarian folklore is the focus of the activities for children aged 4 to 13 from families with at least one Bulgarian parent. "Our martenitsa workshops brought us great joy again this year! Even the sun helped in the organization - thanks to the nice weather, our holiday was even nicer", shares Gergana Hristova from the Bulgarian School in Milan.Ĭhildren’s choir "Sharena Gaida" in Berlin dedicated the last Sunday of February to the Baba Marta tradition. Will she?"īulgarian children in Milan took part in the 6th Martenitsa Festival in the Italian city. But most of all we wish that she will bring us PEACE. She shares an album of photos of the workshop where children are making their martenitsas, writing, "The only thing we have left is the hope that Baba Marta (Grandma Marta) brings us health, longevity, fertility and abundance. The special martenitsa workshops usually took place in the local Bulgarian Sunday schools.īut these days everything is different… cold, tense and somehow scary… The children are different – they are not their usual carefree, laughing all the time selves… And of course they are – after all the restrictions that have driven us apart? And with the war, which is just a few steps away from us…" - writes Veneta Nenkova, founder of the Bulgarian school "Asen and Ilija Peikov" in Rome, on Facebook. Bulgarian childrenscattered all over the world this year did not break the tradition to craft traditional martenitsa amulets.
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